has been quite predictable. Suicides will become a lot more common, so will violent crime, domestic violence, and property crime - however I wouldn't call robbing a bank to pay one's rent a crime at all.

The above poster is correct that people need to stop being so implosive in their reactions to these hardships. We need to be more explosive, like targeting executives with violence. If we only kill ourselves, we're just taking the route to end our troubles that's most convenient for the powers that be. They'd much prefer that we turn inward and destroy ourselves than go after them.

This is the onset of a cruel chapter of human history. There's a lot more suffering to come. Many reading these threads will find themselves economically destroyed this year; many may end up homeless, anomic, permanently scarred, and persecuted by authorities that want to keep their misery out of the public view.

Start preparing yourself psychologically for the worst. If your life is swept up in this destructive tide and you can control little else, at least you might be able to exercise some control over your mind, if you don't go insane. Accept that life is suffering and it's best to desire as little as possible. Lower your expectations as a shield against disappointment, which will be the new zeitgeist.

The economy is is free fall, nothing can save it, and while Obama's plan is the most compassionate economic plan proffered by a president since Lyndon Johnson, it cannot stop the collapse that is already set in motion.

Change is here already. It's a change to a much lower material standard of living, which in the very long term may be a good thing, but in the interim will be brutal.

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These people are yet more victims of the Bush Administration, which represented the interests of the wealthy. Economic violence can be as devastating as physical violence.

Which is why we shouldn't forget that the Democrats let the whole Republican agenda just happen over the last eight years. It only takes one senator to filibuster.

Looking at www.opensecrets.org, we can see that the Democrats are financed by the same corporate interests that finance the Republicans. Neither party will give us single-payer health care, for example, because it would hurt the profits of the insurance and pharmaceutical corporations that finance them.

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Because we let them makes slaves of us all. The polygarchy cons us into believing that money is value. It's a worthless piece of paper,that we let rule every aspect of our lives. The few keep us so busy earning money that we're distracted to bondage we're under. Just say NO! No more slavery.
Look around you we have grocery stores brimming with food and people down the street at a food pantry because they don't have enough money. Food
prices are rising despite a sinking economy. Do you really believe this is a coincidence? The corporatocracy is ruining our environment.Waging wars that have no end in sight. Consolidation is a
step towards dictatorship. Control of the media and the implementation of electronic control of banking and RFID tags for identification are also in use. They will track you and by electronics deny you access to basic needs if you are not under their control. Then it will be too late.

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It will be solved if we the people receive the $ 700 Billion instead of Banks, it will help us to pay off the debts, which is helpful to creditors and the businesses will see very positive sign! Because we are able to afford to buy their products to keep the businesses going and no suicides will occur! Why give it to bankers who continue to rob our money with interests rates? that does not help at all! It's Zionists' plan to destroy us Americans! It will lead us to revolt..

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I spent the last two years helping Olive Riley with her blog, that of the oldest blogger in the world. Olive died six months ago at 108.

In some of the early posts we talked of the great depression she lived through.

Though the times were very hard, Olive remembered them as not unhappy times. People were closer to basics then and so when they lost jobs, it was not such a big step to turn the garden into a veggie patch, to start making their own clothes, and hunting their own meat, mostly rabbits.

Cars did not drain the family purse of 20% because people rode bikes, and were healthier and happier for it.

People helped each other lot too, providing free accomodation for relatives or neighbors, lending a bike, sharing a job. There were many evictions of course and and groups of neighbors who stopped those evictions.

There was a politician, who became a God, Jack Lang, who stopped the evictions

Many landlords and banks, on their own bat, decided that it was better to leave people in their homes, knowing the properties would be protected rather than having them empty and vandalized.

A surprising number of people paid back every cent they owed when the depression was over.

I wonder if it's not time for those who are worried, who can see trouble ahead, to check out books on the Great Depression, and see how they did it back then.

Olive and I, here in Australia, discussed David Potts book, The Myth of the Great Depression. By myth, David meant that it was not all doom and gloom, and for this rather rosy view, he got flack from some reviewers. But Olive found him spot on.

Olive's blog is still up. www.allaboutolive.com.au. Go to the archive for July 2007. At the very least, this feisty old lady will cheer you up with news of the simple life.

We chortled over the fact that, in line with keeping your own hen house, etc. One depression battler coined the phrase, making hens meet.

Cuba too, is a model. When the Russians cut Cuba's oil off in the early nineties, the Cubans had to re invent their economy and the cities became full of market gardens.

There are films about this, showing great resilience and cheerfulness on the part of the Cubans.

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is special suicide.

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Does anyone think the title of this article is melodramatic? Think again. About ten hours ago I got an email that a smart, well-qualified woman of my acquaintance, unable to find work since she was laid off three months ago, yesterday attempted to overdose by swallowing all of her antidepressant pills at once.

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is not entirely cheerful but beats the US anytime.

The US is long overdue for a revolution and some guillotining. Why do we prop up large businesses. Everybody can do without vampires.

And if you think about suicide - take a manager with you. Make a statement, make it meaningful!

Let them live the fear that they brought onto others.

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This where all those guns come in handy. Suicide rates among all demographics and in all nations correlate strongly with the number of guns lying around.

You see? America is still No 1 in some things.

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If the economy isn't showing signs of recovery within the year, expect a bloody Christmas and a lot of dead police. The social fabric will unravel.

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Crises come and crises go. This economic storm will pass, too. Suicide is the loser's way out, leaving nothing but devastated family behind. It is a big "F*** you!" to all those who remain.

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Geithner [Kissinger Associates, NY Fed] enlists [Goldman Sachs] lobbyist as top [U.S. Treasury] aide


Newly installed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner issued new rules Tuesday restricting contacts with lobbyists – and then hired one to be his top aide.

Mark Patterson, a former advocate for Goldman Sachs, will serve as chief of staff to Geithner as the Treasury Department revamps the Wall Street bailout program that sent an infusion of cash to his former employer.

Patterson’s appointment marks the second time in President Barack Obama’s first week in office that the administration has had to explain how it’s complying with its own ethics rules as it hires a bevy of Washington insiders for administration jobs.

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We are seeing what a capitalistic society can bring. How is it that people can allow themselves to believe that property has more value than their own lives? This is where education should step in. The most important part of of our country and the infrastructure is people. Capitalism has lead us to the dumbing down of our society.

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Thanks for a dose of reality about what causes much illness and death.

Yet our federal health agencies supported by mainstream media reporting have us worried about "peanut butter"(7 deaths in elderly and already sick people) Works as wonderful diversion from reality keeping a lid on the rage of the public about poverty.

I am for safe food but I know what we need to focus on and it isn't peanut butter or bird flu for that matter.

My own proposed "health care plan" for our times is meaningful,safe,healthy,secure JOBS for all able adult Americans!

Now that is a good RX from me

Dr. Rick Lippin
Southampton, Pa

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I can't help but think it's not only about loss of job or property, leading to loss of hope.

It's partly our society too--our emphasis on "success" through "rugged individualism," and the idea that if you fail it's somehow your fault--that you're the loser.

We lack community spirit--so many people are friendless today, not just penniless.

The ethos of our society needs to change--we've tried Darwinian capitalism and "shop to you drop," and that's not working ...

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I think we're going to see in increase as well in suicides among ill people who cannot afford the health care they were provided when they had jobs.

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A few weeks ago I was reading an op-ed piece on the phenomena of millions of people outliving their retirement savings, and essentially being forced to work until their last days if life.

This was before the infamous Bernie Madoff $50 billion investment scam made the headlines, before the daily reports of 100s of thousands of jobs disappearing, before the $750 billion banking system bailout . . .

What many, including myself are experiencing is a profound loss of trust or faith, in anything.

Essentially everything we have ever been told to believe in has turned out to be bogus, a lie, a gigantic Ponzi scheme designed to misguide the public for extremely short sided, self absorbed gain.

There are only so many foreclosures, bank failures, bogus wars, sleazy corporate CEOs, businesses shutting down, pension and retirement funds disappearing that people can take, before they get pushed to an edge, the edge of no return.

Even as I am composing this comment, there are countless millions of kids in high school, suspended in limbo with no idea of how they will ever be able to afford even the most modestly priced college education, knowing that their future children will be paying for the government money that has already been borrowed against their future.

Most of the institutions we have been told to believe in, such as social security, medicare, privately funded retirement programs, and so on will not even exist in their future lives, at least not in their current form.

For people in their mid-50s and older today, finding any kind of a job, even the most minimal part time employment, is essentially impossible. These are the people who have already lost everything, their 401ks are essentially worthless, their home, even if they are still in it, has dropped 50% or more in value, and they can't borrow enough money to even meet the most basic of life support.

I can't even begin to imagine what elderly folks, perhaps in their 70s and beyond, who are in assisted living situations requiring specialized medical care and so on must be facing.

This is not psycho-babble fluffy talk, or some sort of theoretical abstract academic concept . . . this is real life, as it being experienced today.

Perhaps for some, suicide really does begin to look like an acceptable option for consideration. The traditional models of family and local community support infrastructure that once served as the safety net for retirees and elderly with special needs has all but disappeared in many areas.

I don't say this to be flippant or make some sort of dramatic statement, but as a practical assessment of the phenomena that we are all witnessing.

Where is the moral or ethical compass pointing to in all of this? I don't think anyone can claim such authority or wisdom. But the one thing I would like to point to at this juncture is this - we all have to be careful in our judgements of others, as the commonly referred to quote suggest, "be it but for the grace of God walk I".

We are all now facing a challenge that hasn't been experienced since the days of the Great Depression and the "dust bowl" of the 1930s.

In short, the party's over, the days of absurdly big lifestyle and over the top bling are giving way to a wakeup call, the real world is beckoning, and we have to recognize such.

In these conditions, some may be young and determined enough to address these challenges head on, and navigate a course through the rough waters ahead.

For others. however, the range of options available may be extremely limited, and the lifeboats that once seemed within reach under such circumstances simply don't exist in current times.

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Pretty sad isnt it. We have a Government that wastes endless billions on the useless Iraq effort, a leader that gives BILLIONS away to the wealthiest banks and corporations, yet they ignore Main Street America and turn their back on the Sheeple! Sad indeed.

RT
Online Privacy when it Counts

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http://online.wsj.com:80/article/SB123051100709638419.html

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In a society where everything is measured in money, where the government takes care of the corporations and a small elite class, and not the citizens, it should come as no surprise that self-worth is at rock-bottom for many.

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I have been unemployed since August 2007 and my financial situation has been bleaker and bleaker. I have no savings (depleted last year), I am on the verge of eviction, have no job prospect and little hope. I have thought about committing suicide but I would leave behind three children who would be totally traumatized my death. I feel so much like a failure because I cannot support my children but I cannot give in the darkside.

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This is the coolest thing I've read in months. I can only pray this auto-destruct virus catches on around the globe. These so-called people and their money are the destructive force on this planet. Take the money away, take the so-called people away and there's a lot fewer things to worry about. More water for me, more food for me - I'm breathing easier just thinking about all the great fertilizer this body count is producing!

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We need real solidarity and real action against these companies who, like LaZBoy, as reported yesterday, closed factories and laid off while simultaneously giving their CEO a bonus-and-bennies package of over a mil. Half of my poor trailer-dwelling relatives worked there, and the other half were in a layoff of 2500 by Mohawk Carpets Tuesday.

I am advising that anyone purchasing from these corporations is subject to find me behind them with a lit welding torch up your intestines.

Convincing corporations that layoffs are their suicides, not ours, is one possible answer.

Letting corporate management know that we who are employed will refuse to purchase from these companies is one strategy. I suspect that en-masse writing campaigns designed to destroy the profits specifically derived from layoffs may accomplish more than big-shot or bureaucrat bailouts will. Anyone else on for this tactic? Any more ideas out there to penalize these corporate sharks and piranhas?

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How convenient.

Your article failed to document any quantitative or qualitative INCREASE in the percentage of suicides since the economy rode off the rails.

There have ALWAYS been Americans committing suicide, robbing banks - being driven to desperate measures because of personal problems in their lives.

Alternet failed to back up their hypothesis by publishing statistics from mental health experts or coroners records.

Alternet is one of the utterly sloppiest sources of news I've ever seen in my life. Poorly researched, relying on innuendo, unformed hypothesis and intern material type of reporting.

If this is what allegedly passes for "alternative, indie, progressive media" then we are in deep deep doo-doo.

Yesterday an article was published about British men getting breast reduction surgery. A few weeks a rubbish article was published about the size of Michelle Obama's fanny and big African American female buttocks. Alternet on a daily basis keeps hammering away insisting Sarah Palin is some sort of rising star and "power broker" in the GOP - get over it, she's a national joke.

I am SO fed up with your slobering over Rush Lumbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly - you GIVE them power by reporting on them on a daily basis. Ignore them and let them settle like dust.

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Slater's book by that title was published around 1970. It was an analysis of American values and practices from the point of view of Herbert Marcuse. In a "dog eat dog" world, rugged individualism becomes just a coverup for alienation.

Measuring yourself by monetary values (an ethic that advertising thrives on) is as old as the Protestant Ethic where individuals thought that the evidence for one's heavenly destiny in the next life was prosperity in this life.

We have chosen political leadership who identify the American Way of Life with wealth rather than freedom for social change. So long as everything is for sale, the pathos of people who treat themselves as disposable will continue.

In fact, while recent times see an increase, this pattern is well established among us. Suicide is the biggest killer of our youth. Ours remains a violent alienated society. What is worse is that we accept it as normal.

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first off, to those that are thinking of suicide, don't!!! got an idea here...

sure, anomie and money withdrawl is a horrobible thing to go through, but how about turning things 180' around.... let's look at the strength on the other side... the worst thing 'they' can do is kill you, but at least we'd all go down for a reason and it won't be 'their' $$... we don't have debtor prisons anymore, and jail means a roof and meals no matter what...

the fear factor of being broke is being ramped up because the powerful want us to be afraid of having nothing to spend, so why not cut out the middleman and we turn our backs on them...

first off, we are in this financial mess because the powers that be refuse to share, so why should we allow them to win...

what has been recently seen are small grassroots movement, still splintered around the country that are turning their back on banks and corporations, creating alternative solutions and not sharing with the power elite...

movements like property take overs by small group force when the foreclosure auction produces no takers (read about several families who have done this and have actually moved into better neighborhoods... there aren't enough cops to stop it in some areas), food banks and meal sharing are growing like food co-ops used to be... when it gets warmer, plans for community gardens in abandoned areas...

we'll be ok if we all work with each other... sound crazy, but so far no other plans have worked... we just create alternative social systems to replace the ones we know are broken... no, not everyone is going to get what they want, but we should be able to meet everyone's basic needs...

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I saw the ad and was disgusted that Alternet would even allow such advertisements all the while giving less room for pro-worker ads.

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I thought the part about MBAs killing themselves was good. Lead by example.

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This wasn't true in '29 either.
Some did, some do...... but hordes?
I don't need a sensationalized tabloid blurb to read an article. Rip Tragle

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Be careful of inflammatory words such as "hordes." Panic begets panic. Yes, there are reported suicides but there are also thousands of people affected, who will find other ways of managing this crisis.

I speak as a retiree (working part-time here and there again where I can find work -- which is very difficult -- having lost much of my savings and watching my home worth plummet over the past two months.)

I refuse, refuse to be cowed or bent by this period of crisis and dismay. My life is too important to give it up over the stupidity, gross greed and self-entitlement that has been displayed by so many money managers etc.

May those who are deeply distressed and depressed REACH OUT for help. There is help for those who are hurting. Call Samaritans or another crisis line, rent out a room in your home, ask creditors if you can make smaller payments etc. Ask friends or family for help and remember that life is not a bank account.

You are important, this too shall pass. Trust me, I'm old and I know.

The headlines, the media drives much of the despair by painting only the negatives (remember, media stays alive by feeding us terror and panic). There is comnpassionate help out there.

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I could have stayed a country gal, gotten married early, been an overdressed housewife, and maybe even gotten obese like most folks back in the rurals but when I got the job offer from St. Louis, I was ready to switch to being a city girl putting career over marriage first. And even when I should have been giving marriage a look, I was hell bent on upgrading from renting a shitty but overpriced apartment to trying out my life as a responsible homeowner even though I'd only have a condo with some tradeoffs to settle for it although it turned out to be cheaper than renting surprisingly. My salary might not be all that stellar but I am frugal and not a wasteful spender and proud to be slender and not obese. Maybe not getting married has been a blessing more than a curse although I admit I don't know how long that can last.

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If you get in line for welfare you are denied. When a corporation wants welfare they get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Republicons will bitch about a few million for mass transit but give away hundreds of billions for corporate wefare. This is Voodoo Economics by the COMMANDER AND THIEF. Bush had a Robber Baron presidency.

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....get used to it, if u can handle it!

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I've heard that the flesh of bankers, financiers and CEOs, and others who who have long gorged themselves on the fattest & choicest parts of our economy, can be quite sweet & juicy after being marinated in red wine for a day or so. They should first be thoroughly exsanguinated, perhaps by guillotine.

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...for many, many, many years.....now the rest of America has joined it....and they can't handle it!!!!!

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Watching the brutal invasions and slaughter of Iraqis and Afghans over the past SEVEN years and the criminal ways in which the US and its compliant flag waving majority have devastated and brutally murdered millions of people, it is hard to summon much sympathy for a nation of spoiled people jumping from their windows because they can’t afford their lavish lives anymore, and any life is lavish when compared to what Iraqis Afghans are surviving today.

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Who you are as a person, is not related to some strangers buying or stealing elections and robbing the U.S. Treasury, which is what threw you out of work. Then maybe some crook sold you carcinogens, and then some other crook denied you health care treatment by whatever means.

Please survive anyways. Anonymous people have no right to help kill you.

Everyone has faults because we're all human, and you are still your mother's pride.

If you've gone crazy for love, just rejoice about the craziness. All of us are crazy for love at some time.

Now, don't go cold and hungry, organize. Other people are in your boat. Save yourself and save them.

Do you need to look for a job? Organize a job-hunting group. Do you have zero chance of getting hired because you're ____? Organize a small business crew or collective. Or at least plant some food, legally if possible, as an act of protest if not.

- - - - -

Warning: religious slant ahead.

When Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Show me a coin", the Pharisees were embarrassed because the Jews were supposedly boycotting Roman coins. "Thou shall not have any graven images" refers to coins. The Romans worshipped the current Caesar as a god, and put his image on the coins. So Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, render unto God what is God's."

If you intend to render unto God what is God's then suicide is utterly out of the question. If you have two hands OR a brain OR some functionality then you have some work, some learning, some caring, and/or some meditation to do today. God wants to get some progress out of you today.

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If you have the financial means, odds are that some of your family and/or friends will need assistance in the coming years and you might consider being in a position to offer that assistance.

If you have land, you can add RV sites to house people for minimal expense outlay. RV's are on sale all over the country for pennies on the dollar. Most RV's of 30 ft. have a tiny bathroom and kitchen and bedroom.

If you have land, you have the ability to feed a great number of people. Even a small amount of land can produce enough to feed extra mouths.

If you have a downpayment and decent credit you can get 4.87 on a thirty year fixed mortgage. That was the rate that closed just last week. In the history of mortgages, it's never been that low before. Buy LAND.. buy LAND. Partner up with family and friends for the downpayment and buy LAND. Did I mention buy LAND?

For those that can't leave the city. Convert your garage into an extra bedroom. Your backyard has plenty of room to raise food in elevated planting beds. Make a deal with your neighbors to allow you to raise chickens for part of the eggs. I'll bet they'd be happy to put up with a little extra noise for fresh eggs.

Rather than be depressed over articles like this one...take action instead.

Consider being someone's lifeline. Communal living has its problems but it also has many, many positive aspects. It has enriched my life immensely.

You don't have to keep playing "their" game. You can imagine a different way of life.
You can be the change.

The key is like-minded people joining together to create something new.

Menopausal Mick

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It looks like that's where we're headed.

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"All part of the long range plan to turn us into a spare, violent and Holy American Empire."

There'll be a civil war here before that happens. I certainly won't accept a theocratic corporate totalitarian police state here.

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Mere words cannot express how damned angry I am at what our own government and wealthy power elites have done to us! This Second Great Depression is not some natural disaster. We have been systematically robbed by the very same people we have chosen to lead our industry and our government, and systematically brainwashed into thinking it's our own fault if we are not able to buy everything in sight by many of those same people, through incessant, fraudulent advertising.

We have been played for suckers, treated like so many million lab rats, over and over again being shocked and dutifully pushing the food bar in some Skinnerian behavior-modification nightmare.

It hurts me to see anger turned inward to depression, and even suicide, because of decades of conditioning by the wealthy and powerful (and criminal) few.

THEY ARE DOING THIS TO US! When and how will we fight back?

It is time to bury feudalism, and those who champion it under the guise of "free market capitalism," once and for all.

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I have a family member who lost his job last October with a company he had been with for fifteen years. In the time since he hasn't been able to find work even washing dishes.
Though I don't condone this, he started growing marijuana to suppliment his unemployment insurance. One thing led to another and he was busted in a sting and now a man who has been a law abiding citizen for 35 years is looking at 3 to 15 years in prison.
He was desperate and didn't know what he was going to do, was about to lose his home, and he felt that he was at the end of his rope. I thank God he didn't kill himself but our family will still lose him for some time while he pays his debt.
It's the stories like this and the one's in this article that bring such a human element to the consequences of Wall Street's actions. Somewhere in all this I wish that could be considered and charges be brought to the ones who so callously chased their greed at the expense of very many "little" people.

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The banks, without the necessary regulations, undermined our economy. They were then given a fortune by those from whom they stole and then ... yes ... they continued to steal. So whay is repossesion of stolen items a crime ?
As to those who complain about so-called "socialization." These folks nearly always appear to be on welfare, which is the ultimate in socialization and redistribution of wealth. I am continually amazed that these very people don't even know what they do!

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Before long it will be "Soylent Green" all over again!!! I say eat the Rich they are bound to be more tender than someone who has worked for a living. Food, people, it is all about food.

Actually I think since the rich retain a lot of shit they might not be as tasty as first considered, however, as fertilizer, hmmmm now that might work.

Just think many of us used to laugh at the "survivalist" nutcases, maybe not as full of peanuts as we thought!!!

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...There are what--between three and four million people in this country? So:

Go to the most recent telephone books that there are. Mail each family in all the books, ONE MILLION DOLLARS. You will in one fell swoop:

1) Stop the misery, and give the REAL VICTIMS--that's US, folks, not corporate America--a hand up from this quagmire that Corporate America put us all into.

2) Give help to the VICTIMS--NOT to the perpetrators of this disaster, as in the previous Bailouts Numbers One and Two. And finally,

3) Set America on a beautiful new time of prosperity, freedom and peace.

That's what ONE FOUR HUNDRED MILLION (NOT BILLION)-DOLLAR bailout can do. People committing suicide because they got screwed?!! Are you kidding me?!

To start with--END ALL CORPORATE BAILOUTS NOW! Give the money to those who need it--that's US, folks--and it'll be WAY CHEAPER than buying off these dirtbags who put cheerfully put America's economy into the garbage pail, and then demand money--for what? TO KEEP FLYING????

FUCK THESE ASSHOLES AND THEIR STINKING CORPORATE JETS: THAT THEY TAKE OUR MONEY, AND THEN INSIST THAT THEY MUST KEEP ON FLYING! (Please forgive me, AlterNet, I know you're against "excessive profanity"--but is it REALLY 'excessive' in these cases???!!) Just Say--"NO"!

Are you KIDDING ME??? This--while people are robbing banks to pay the rent? While people are killing their families because THEY feel somehow responsible for the Second Great Depression??!!!! I pray each day that these pieces of filth all fall out of the skies, and with each accident, help America get cleaner and better.

Barring that kind of deliverance--let's all get behind MY idea of a "bailout"--a Million Bucks per Family. You want to 'stimulate spending'? That'll DEFINITELY do it!

ABOVE ALL--STOP CORPORATE BAILOUTS. If you can't see fit to give the money to the wronged--at least quit giving it to the fat wallowing pigs who are telling us that they "...need more..." always MORE!

Here's the math, once more: One Million Dollars to each American--One time. Well--maybe TWO times. (To equal the number of times that we're expected to "bail out" Pig America).

Or--keep on shoveling billions to corporate looters and watch our citizens kill themselves.

AMERICA--YOUR CHOICE!

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I just thought it was time for a good belly laugh, one sure way to ward off depression, very healthy and life-affirming.

I'm not making light of the subject whatsoever, I've had dear friends take that lonely ride and it's devastating for everyone.

I think we're all about to "meet our maker" in one way another as the world reverts to judging it's inhabitants on how hard they work and not on how much they have.

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Two separate suicides on my street last week. Two more vacant homes. Anyone want to buy a house that recently had decomposing bodies removed? There goes the neighborhood.

Sushi
"Death takes its toll. Please have exact change ready."

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If the bastards who brought us to this point had any honor they would kill themselves. Bush should lead the way, he keeps talking about his "legacy" how about a live apology followed by taking his life!!! Ratings would be through he roof!!! The lift this act would provide Americans might be enough to spark a turn around, at least for a while. It would lift his approval ratings at least 30-40 points, I would approve of his performance for the first time EVER!!!

Any lift this would create would be temporary as the system is broken and has been for a loooong time. Still Bush, Cheney, Clinton, Bush1, Greenspan, Bernanke, Thain & (all CEO's of the big financial pirate dens). This event would top the Stupid Bowl and give these worthless lives some meaning. They could even get creative and get points for the most spectacular, creative, efficient, gory, clean, painless, painful, etc... Great family fun, a good chance to tell the kids about personal responsibility, honor, consequences, etc...

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More convincing theory on the stupidity of private central banks



www.publiccentralbank.com/

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for god sake. Make your sad little life count for SOMETHING, at least. Take some of the people responsible with you. Hell, storm the HQ of your favorite mainstream media propaganda machine, walk down to wall st. and start plugging suits with buckshot. Do SOMETHING other than going quietly into the night!

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To everyone who thought that keeping gays from marrying was more important than keeping our economy strong, healthy, and viable, and to everyone who thought that those poor stem cells needed protection more than our livlihoods did. Good job!! The corporatists/robber barons/globalists/fascists/Dominionists/neocons couldn't have done it without you!! Well done!!

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How very very tragic people put so much of their worth in externals. We so define ourselves by our stuff and status we have no no idea how to exist without it. Even the very rich are the ultimate victims of their own game.

I hope anyone out there despairing realizes they have more worth than their material possessions and credit report. If they can reevaluate their priorities, they may find they can live more happily than the ever could before, free of society's definition of success. I realize that it is really really scary to be homeless. (And yes, I have been almost on that edge myself so it is not just idle talk), but once you come through a difficulty you find new respect for yourself. Hang in their and don't be another victim of a soulless society's lie.

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If you have a job with Raytheon making cluster bombs you can take home a big paycheck but are you making a positive contribution to humanity? The same holds true for what most of us do for a living. Those of us who don't work in the armaments industry are, for the most part employed consuming resources that provide the military-industrial complex with an excuse to start wars.

Corporations produce shit. We should have as little to do with them as possible. Even those of us who do work that needs to be done are taking work that other people would do and causing them to seek destructive work.

If I lose my job (a real possibility) I won't feel depressed about not having a job. I may be depressed about being hungry or homeless but not about not having a job.

We could provide for everyone's needs with a small fraction of the resources (natural and human) that we consume now.

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...we lowers continue to endure the owning-class shitstorm and haven't offed ourselves yet.

Setting aside all the Darwinian horseshit themes that immediately spring to mind, it's pretty tough to have compassion for a group of people who are notoriously so ruthless and heartless and continue to be so.

Nevertheless, when anyone ends their pain permanently... yeah, it happens. At least their pain is over. It just sucks for those left behind to have to deal with the additional mess. That's how it works.

If the owning class had an ounce of decency they'd begin debt cancellations at once and en masse.... I won't hold my breath on that one.

1789. Watch your ass, rich boyz.

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I don't like to get personal, but here goes. I am a lawyer and professor. I contracted 3 auto-immune diseases in my 40's and became too ill to work. I applied for Social Security disability in JANUARY 2008. I have been denied and appealed, denied again and appealed (all the while with my docs going to bat for me on the nature and extent of the disability). I am merely seeking to collect MY MONEY which has been deducted from MY PAYCHECKS for 30 years. Now I have to wait for a hearing sometime this spring. My lawyers assure me I will be awarded, but I have been through hell. When I applied, I was not depressed, but this journey has caused me to develop Major Depression, Recurrent (had one when my son died 12 years ago) and believe it or not, that diagnosis now eclipses the ones I originally applied under.

In the meantime, I ran through my savings and got evicted from my apartment. You can damn well bet I was suicidal and I was hospitalized twice for it. I have supported myself since I was 21. I now live in a homeless shelter for women. It is small (only takes 10 women) but it is one of only 2 in the state that does not kick you out at 7 AM and then reopen at 5PM. (Most of the homeless in my state have to spend those 10 hours a day out on the street with all their belongings regardless of the weather. This is in New England)

In the shelter with me are: an accountant who formerly worked for one of the Big Seven, a pre-school teacher, a certified nurse's assistant, and a bus driver. What we all have in common is that we became ill in our 40's, Social Security is jerking our chains, and we have no family to help us.

Consider us canaries in the mine. I predict more shelters will have more professionals and more educated clients as the economy implodes. I am glad I did not kill myself: I have become galvanized by the plight of the homeless and am using my connections to get our voices heard on public access TV and radio. I am also going to use my connections with the State House to demand some face time between us and our elected officials. I had initially planned to leave the area once I got on SSDI, but now think I will stay and work to make things better for people in our condition.

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by Greg Palast

January 29, 2009

Republicans are right. President Barack Obama treated them like dirt, didn't give a damn what they thought about his stimulus package, loaded it with a bunch of programs that will last for years and will never leave the budget, is giving away money disguised as "tax refunds," and is sneaking in huge changes in policy, from schools to health care, using the pretext of an economic emergency.

Way to go, Mr. O! Mr. Down-and-Dirty Chicago pol. Street-fightin' man. Covering over his break-your-face power play with a "we're all post-partisan friends" BS.

And it's about time.

Frankly, I was worried about this guy. Obama's appointing Clinton-droids to the Cabinet, bloated incompetents like Larry Summers as "Economics Czar," made me fear for my country, that we'd gotten another Democrat who wished he were a Republican.

Then came Obama's money bomb. The House bill included $125 billion for schools (TRIPLING federal spending on education), expanding insurance coverage to the unemployed, making the most progressive change in the tax code in four decades by creating a $500 credit against social security payroll deductions, and so on.

It's as if Obama dug up Ronald Reagan's carcass and put a stake through The Gipper's anti-government heart. Aw-RIGHT!

About the only concession Obama threw to the right-wing trogs was to remove the subsidy for condoms, leaving hooker-happy GOP Senators, like David Vitter, to pay for their own protection. S'OK with me.

And here's the proof that Bam is The Man: Not one single Republican congressman voted for the bill. And that means that Obama didn't compromise, the way Clinton and Carter would have, to win the love of these condom-less jerks.

And we didn't need'm. Nyah! Nyah! Nyah!

Now I understand Obama's weird moves: dinner with those creepy conservative columnists, earnest meetings at the White House with the Republican leaders, a dramatic begging foray into Senate offices. Just as the Republicans say, it was all a fraud. Obama was pure Chicago, Boss Daley in a slim skin, putting his arms around his enemies, pretending to listen and care and compromise, then slowly, quietly, slipping in the knife. All while the media praises Obama's "post-partisanship." Heh heh heh.

Love it. Now we know why Obama picked that vindictive little viper Rahm Emanuel as staff chief: everyone visiting the Oval office will be greeted by the Windy City hit man who would hack up your grandma if you mess with the Godfather-in-Chief.

I don't know about you, but THIS is the change I've been waiting for.

Will it last? We'll see if Obama caves in to more tax cuts to investment bankers. We'll see if he stops the sub-prime scum-bags from foreclosing on frightened families. We'll see if he stands up to the whining, gormless generals who don't know how to get our troops out of Iraq. (In SHIPS, you doofusses!)

Look, don't get your hopes up. But it may turn out the new President's ... a Democrat!

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refuse to give in to the fear and terror of this whole mess. You want to know why? Because there is nothing more the elite/ corporate American would love more than to see us all dead in the gutter. It would mean more for them!

My situation is not great. I was laid off from Apple three months ago. However, none of you have heard of layoffs there, because they simply disposed of Permatemps like myself with no notice. That way, it would not appear in the news media, as the Microsoft layoffs have. Google has done exactly the same thing.

Killing myself is the truly furthest thing from mind. Of course I am worried and disappointed. But taking it further than that would just mean maximum satisfaction to the Apple brats and The Man in general. Please folks, don't give them that pleasure! Things are desperate, yes. Despair is pervasive. But don't let these bastards devalue your life. You have intrinsic value beyond this foul system.

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While teaching medicine in Nepal I got to know some Buddhist monks. I'm not particularly religious, which didn't bother them, and I learned a good bit about happiness from them. I'd already gotten rid of houses and cars and decided to work in the developing world, but the monks took my idea even further by teaching me that it's not what happens to us that makes us unhappy, but how we think about it. It's our attachment to things that makes their loss painful.

Living in an economy based on consumption, where prestige depends on wealth, surrounded by advertising designed to create desire for the unnecessary, it's easy to lose sight of what really matters and easy to despair when financial disaster strikes.

But take it from one who knows: give up all that stuff and you'll be happier.

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The complete collapse of our economy may not be that bad a thing, in the long run, that is. It'll be a bear short-term, but once bottom has been reached, and we can't fall any more, maybe we can build a new economy based on the needs of ordinary people,and without any greedy psychopaths. If this experience has taught us anything, it's how to recognize flim-flam artists trying to sell us something for nothing.

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Thank you, Republicans, and you, too, the elected Democrats of Congress. Not one of you stood up for the people of this country in the last 20 years. And for all of you well paid employees who associate yourselves with the GOP, think again. You could become the next unemployed...and a few months later the suicide statistic. And the fat cats in both parties won't give a snit.

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Frankly, I can't see things as this desperate. I've been laid off five times in the past nine years, and I've been looking for work for seven months with no luck (I'm almost 59, so even though I look 15-20 years younger, I'm not real hopeful). However, one thing the past nine years have taught is to take advantage of this time. Take the cheapest classes you can find, don't spend any money except on food, and garden if you can (buy seeds). Of course, we've always been frugal, and my father and mother-in-law keep asking us if we need money, but we haven't had to take much (my husband lost his job last month too). However, if someone does commit suicide, I second the motion that they please take a high ranking manager with them. I would hope that people have enough connections with other people to keep themselves going.

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I have posted before about my homeless experiences back during the 80's as a young married mom with a
small son. Nothing like having to move out of your 3-bedroom, 2-bath home into a homeless shelter on
your 31st birthday, because your spouse mismanaged
the finances and bounced a check to the landlord.
In any case, we were already stretched to the breaking point, and wound up divorcing several years later.
I'd heard in recent reports about the family in L.A., that the husband and wife lost their jobs with
Kaiser because they'd falsified their incomes for
company-sponsored day-care. Why didn't they just get
kicked out of the program, rather than lose their jobs? Hate to use this word, but it seems like "overkill".
Also, the wife consented to letting the husband fire
the fatal shots that took them all out. Not that this
should necessarily mean much in light of this tragedy,
but I couldn't help notice this family was black, which gives me pause as to why they had no one to turn to, as typically many minority families tend to take care of one another more than do whites. The
father was quoted as he didn't want the children to "go with strangers". So sad...senseless, really.

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we are deep into it. What is now becoming more than amply evident is that this is a strike, a well-planned, organized and executed strike. A strike by Capital and by capitalists that believe. It is a strike by a certain class of people that include humans into their economic theories of production, exchange and commodities. They are fundamentally Slave Traders and, indeed, are deep-down Cannibals -- they believe in producing, maintaining and consuming another class of humans as objects of Use, of Employment -- no different in any significant way from other living things such as draft-animals, machines or commodities. We are those people.

Reagan launched the Strike. A significant tool in this effort is the practice of humiliation, starvation and general weakening. Its Object is Labor, specifically unionized and organized Labor. How can Starving people resist? These Animals like Hobbes and his theories of the State of Nature -- we are being and have been reduced to that State. In this State, they figure, an individual will accept anything even the most draconian and drastic conditions in order to survive.

These people are not Men; they are Animals; clever Animals, but Animals nevertheless.

All these "despairing" individuals that are turning to robbing, suicide, homicide and other non-social activities are doing it in a state of complete alienation, alienation from their neighbors, from other individuals experiencing the same troubles. Just as these capitalists want, as they are ensuring and as they are continuing to ensure.

And we all keep accepting their terms, their interpretations, their humiliations, their rationalizations.

It's time to REFUSE. These are Animals, these are not Men, this is not Civilization. This is the Rule of the Jungle and the Strong. This is the Rule of Might.

This existing Ideology precludes Justice, any kind of Justice from the Outset.

REFUSE!! We must do everything possible to direct and organize all our hostile and self-destructive reactions toward their Source: these Animal Capitalists. We are being enslaved by means of starvation, humiliation (in the guise of 'discipline') and reduction to survival mechanisms. REFUSE!!

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Everything seems to be a total mess. Try to hook up with cable TV? They don't know who they service. Try to talk to your health insurance? They'll give you the total run around. The list goes on and on. No wonder everyone is totally freaked out and not to mention depressed. The banks are the primary culprit, unwilling to extend any credit, to anyone with assets or not. The insurance companies act like they are some sort of charity organization where your contribution are just that. So what is it that we don't see? We see it all. The middle class is being destroyed - which would include most of us. So many I know, who are truly middle class, would like to think that they are somehow upper class, are in denial. When we all come together in the recognition that we in it together, then maybe at that time, we can demand the fair treatment that we all deserve. Obama should know with the crowds he has seen that the movement is quite powerful. But it's more than time to see some real reactions, results, and relief. You have to be so sorry for the people who take their lives over this but our reaction has to be to reach out to take care of own. President Obama needs to define his message about 'sacrifice' - families who have lost their jobs & homes have already sacrificed. The fat cats on Wall Street, with their bailout funds, gaining bonuses to the tune of billions, obviously, aren't sacrificing. We, the middle class, are paying for these bailouts and bonuses. So what's to see? It's time to demand accountability & some sort of repayment. Give me a break. I might on a bad day have other thoughts but I'll be g*(-D*&M* that I won't tell my kids to see and fight for what is so obviously right.

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to provide healthcare for my family?"

These words were spoken to me about 3 weeks ago by an employee I had to lay off.

The employee, a middle-aged Engineer, almost cried when I told him he was being laid off.

I felt bad, especially because I'm only 26, and was laying off this 40 something old man, with a family!

My company has outsourced much of the work to Shenghai, China and Bangalore, India, in the last 3 years.

What to do? There will be more lay-offs in the next few months.

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Sperm counts are dropping,

Less boys are being born

And yes men are being feminized. Ironically we men did it to ourselves with chemicals in the ecosystem and a lack of exercise

Neither women nor feminism had anything to do with either of those things and blaming them is just a dodge.

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We'll be discussing the global financial crisis on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com at 5 PM New York time Monday February 2.

Please go to http://www.garybaumgarten.com and click on the Join The Chat button to participate in the conversation.

Thanks,

Gary

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Suicide is an honorable way to go. Never mind what the religious wackos say. Now, where are the Bush-villes and what is the suicide rate there?

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One's life has value so long as one attributes value to the life of others, by means of love, friendship, indignation and compassion. -- Simone De Beauvoir

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I'm amazed people are so whingey:
...Indian farmers have been suiciding by hundreds a day for many months now.
...Afghanistan's women have been self-immolating.
...Asians & Africans have been selling their children & organs.
...How many child prostitutes are there?
...International slavery?
...The *American Protectorate* of Saipan slavery?
...massive numbers of meth addictions?
...skyrocketting social levels of prisons & degrading conditions?
...worldwide thirst... ?


..& Nick Turse is whinging about the miseries of the last few months?
we don't have it as bad as they have...
we brought it on ourselves by not policing corporate corruption...

...by being more interested with criminalizing VICE as a 'morality crime'

while letting our ETHICS, RESPECT & SOCIAL COMPASSION circle the bowl.

perspective, people.


Perspective.


The Jeff Farias Show: podcast

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The standard fixes for economic recession, depression, meltdown, call it what you like aren't going to work. The corporatist system is in the final phase of its evolution - the one where it eats itself.

There is only one way out: Cast off the yoke of debt and dependence on the financial institutions' gangsterism. If we all just defaulted on our debts - every last one of them (aside from those to family and friends which are honest debts), the system would bottom out and we would have an opportunity to develop a different, more humane economic order.

I'm astounded at what our farce of a financial system is doing to people and how little we understand about why we are drowning in debt, unemployed and growing more desperate each day.

The guys who run the financial industry want us to be poor, hungry, unemployed and homeless. They have been looting our wealth and picking our pockets for well over a century. Things are slipping into high gear now. People can either actively resist and rebel or waste away like bugs.

I don't buy all this nonsense about how if we tighten our belts and brace ourselves for the worst, we will somehow come through this crisis and the world will somehow return to a slightly kinder, gentler version of corporatism. It's not going to happen people.

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